U.S. patent application number 10/922666 was filed with the patent office on 2005-11-03 for rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or roofing.
Invention is credited to Luo, Ken Yi.
Application Number | 20050241244 10/922666 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 34122272 |
Filed Date | 2005-11-03 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050241244 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Luo, Ken Yi |
November 3, 2005 |
Rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or
roofing
Abstract
The present invention relates to a rotor-disc connecting member
for a glass curtain wall or roofing, comprising: a support
abutment, one end connecting with a truss frame, and the other end
connecting with an interconnecting part; and the interconnecting
part connecting with one end of at least two support arms. The
support abutment connects with the interconnecting part via a ball
pivot, and the support arms hinge with the interconnecting part.
The present invention is a simple structure and conveniently
assembled during the construction phase of a glass curtain wall or
roofing.
Inventors: |
Luo, Ken Yi; (Zhuhai,
CN) |
Correspondence
Address: |
James W. McKee, Esq.
Fay, Sharpe, Fagan, Minnich & McKee, LLP
Seventh Floor
1100 Superior Avenue
Cleveland
OH
44114-2518
US
|
Family ID: |
34122272 |
Appl. No.: |
10/922666 |
Filed: |
August 20, 2004 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
52/92.2 |
Current CPC
Class: |
Y10T 403/32098 20150115;
Y10T 403/32918 20150115; Y10T 403/32631 20150115; E06B 3/5427
20130101; E06B 3/5445 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
052/092.2 |
International
Class: |
E04B 007/04 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Apr 29, 2004 |
CN |
200420045352.0 |
Claims
1. A rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or
roofing, comprising: a support abutment, one end connecting with a
truss frame and the other end connecting with an interconnecting
part, said interconnecting part connecting with one end of at least
two support arms, wherein said support abutment connects with the
interconnecting part via a ball pivot and said support arms hinge
with said interconnecting part.
2. The rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or
roofing according to claim 1, further comprising: a ball head
provided at the other end of said support abutment; a ball pivot
seating provided at the center part of said interconnecting part;
and a ball socket formed by a base plate and a cover plate, wherein
said interconnecting part hinges with said support arms via at
least two lug plates disposed at the periphery of said
interconnecting part.
3. The rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or
roofing according to claim 2, wherein the included angle a of said
at least two lug plates in the plane of said base plate satisfies
the condition of 15.degree..ltoreq..alpha..ltoreq.180.degree..
4. The rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or
roofing according to claim 3, wherein: the other end of said
support arm is a connecting end, connecting with a support bar; and
an arc line is provided between said support arm's connecting end
connecting with said interconnecting part and its connecting end
with said support bar, said arc line transits to reach a height the
same as said support bar.
5. The rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or
roofing according to claim 1, further comprising: a ball head
provided at the other end of said support abutment; said
interconnecting part consisting of a cover plate, an upper base
plate and a lower base plate, a ball pivot seating provided at the
center part of said interconnecting part, a ball socket formed by
said upper base plate and said cover plate, and said
interconnecting part hinging with said support arms via at least
two lug plates disposed at the periphery of said interconnecting
part; elliptical holes provided in one of said upper base plate and
said lower base plate and distributed along a circle; and bolt
holes corresponding to said elliptical holes provided in the
corresponding said upper base plate and said lower base plate,
wherein said upper base plate and said lower base plate are
adjustably and fixedly connected with each other by the bolts.
6. The rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or
roofing according to claim 5, wherein said at least two lug plates
are disposed at the periphery of said upper base plate and said
lower base plate, respectively.
7. The rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or
roofing according to claim 6, wherein: the other end of said
support arm is a connecting end, connecting with a support bar; and
an arc line is provided between said support arm's connecting end
connecting with said interconnecting part and its connecting end
with said support bar, said arc line transits to reach a height the
same as said support bar.
8. The rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or
roofing according to claim 1, wherein: the other end of said
support arm is a connecting end, connecting with a support bar; and
an arc line is provided between said support arm's connecting end
connecting with said interconnecting part and its connecting end
with said support bar, said arc line transits to reach a height the
same as said support bar.
9. A rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or
roofing, comprising: a support abutment; means for connecting a
truss frame to the support abutment; means for connecting the
support abutment to an interconnecting part; means for connecting
said interconnecting part to at least two support arms, wherein
said means for connecting the support abutment to said
interconnecting part, hinges with said interconnecting part.
10. The rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or
roofing according to claim 9, wherein the means for connecting the
support abutment to an interconnecting part further comprises: a
ball head provided at the other end of said support abutment; a
ball pivot seating provided at the center part of said
interconnecting part; and a ball socket formed by a base plate and
a cover plate.
11. The rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or
roofing according to claim 9, wherein the means for connecting an
interconnecting part to at least two support arms further
comprises: at least two lug plates disposed at the periphery of
said interconnecting part.
12. The rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or
roofing according to claim 11, wherein the included angle a of said
at least two lug plates in the plane of said base plate satisfies
the condition of 15.degree..ltoreq..alpha..ltoreq.180.degree..
13. The rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or
roofing according to claim 9, further comprising: means for
connecting said support arms to support bars; and an arc line means
for a transit from the said support arms to said support bar.
14. The rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or
roofing according to claim 9, further comprising: said
interconnecting part consisting of a cover plate, an upper base
plate and a lower base plate, a ball pivot seating provided at the
center part of said interconnecting part, a ball socket formed by
said upper base plate and said cover plate, and said
interconnecting part hinging with said support arms via at least
two lug plates disposed at the periphery of said interconnecting
part; and means for adjustably and fixedly connecting said upper
base plate and said lower base plate.
15. The rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or
roofing according to claim 14, wherein the means for adjustably and
fixedly connecting said upper base plate and said lower base plate
further comprises: elliptical holes provided in one of said upper
base plate and said lower base plate and distributed along a
circle; and bolt holes corresponding to said elliptical holes
provided in the corresponding said upper base plate and said lower
base plate, wherein said upper base plate and said lower base plate
are adjustably and fixedly connected with each other by the
bolts.
16. The rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or
roofing according to claim 14, wherein said at least two lug plates
are disposed at the periphery of said upper base plate and said
lower base plate respectively.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a rotor-disc connecting
member for connecting a truss frame to a glass frame, if the
covering layer of the curtain wall or roofing employs a rigid
plate, especially a single-layer glass plate or a hollow laminated
glass plate.
BACKGROUND ART
[0002] Single-layer glass or hollow gum-sandwiched glass are widely
used as a decorative material for the curtain wall or roofing of
some large-scale buildings. Generally, in the structure of these
buildings, basal truss frames are fixed to the structural surfaces
in the glass assembling area. Then, glass frames corresponding to
each piece of glass are attached to the truss frames. Each glass
frame is comprised of four support bars converging at a
node-connecting member. Finally, glasses are fixed to the glass
frames. Some curtain walls or roofings are designed to have a
curved appearance, and may require some specific nodes to have an
additional two, three or more support bars converging at the
node-connecting member. Furthermore, the truss frame itself should
remain substantially as the curvature of the curved surfaces. In
addition, the angle of the connecting member at the node should be
adjustable in each orientation to enable the curved surfaces of the
finished glass curtain wall or roofing to represent the original
design style of the structural curved surfaces.
[0003] Presently, many available connecting members are not
adjustable and available and adjustable connecting members are
complicated and inconvenient.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] A main object of the present invention is to provide a
rotor-disc connecting member adapted to construct a glass curtain
wall or roofing having a variety of curvatures.
[0005] Another object of the present invention is to provide a
rotor-disc connecting member adapted to construct and fix a
non-rectangle glass.
[0006] Still another object of the present invention is to design a
rotor-disc connecting member to enable rapid construction of a
glass curtain wall or roofing.
[0007] In order to achieve the objects described above, a
rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall or roofing
comprises a support abutment, one end of which connects with a
truss frame and the other end connecting with an interconnecting
part via a ball pivot. Therefore, the plane in which the
interconnecting part lies can rotate any angle within 360.degree.
via a ball pivot point relative to the support abutment.
Furthermore, the interconnecting part hinges with one end of two or
more support arms, in the plane thereof, to enable the support arms
to rotate an angle relative to the interconnecting part.
[0008] As can be seen from the solution above, the present
invention utilizes a fixed connection between the support abutment
and the truss frame, and a fixed connection between the support arm
and the support bar. The function of these two connections is to
connect the truss frame with the glass frame. In addition, to
conveniently adjust the curvature during the construction phase,
the present invention includes a ball pivot designed between the
interconnecting part and the support abutment, and a hinge joint
between the interconnecting part and the support arm. This
structure is simpler and stronger than the prior art existing
adjustable connecting members used to construct a glass curtain
wall or a roofing with a variety of curvatures.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] FIG. 1 is a structural view showing the first embodiment of
the present invention.
[0010] FIG. 2 is a bottom view of FIG. 1 and a partial sectional
view of the interconnecting part.
[0011] FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG.
1.
[0012] FIG. 4 is a structural view of the interconnecting part.
[0013] FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line B-B in FIG.
4.
[0014] FIG. 6 is a structural view of the cover plate.
[0015] FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line C-C in FIG.
6.
[0016] FIG. 8 is a structural view of the support arm.
[0017] FIG. 9 is a top plane view of FIG. 8.
[0018] FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along line D-D in FIG.
8.
[0019] FIG. 11 is an exploded view showing the first embodiment of
the present invention. Illustrated parts not included in the
present invention are shown by dash-dot-dot. This includes
component 5 used for fixing a support abutment to a truss frame
(not shown), and the support bar 4 constituting the glass frame. To
simplify this illustration, only one support arm 3 is shown in this
figure.
[0020] FIG. 12 is an exploded view showing the second embodiment of
the present invention.
[0021] FIG. 13 is a three-dimensional view of a support arm 3 and a
support bar 4 assembled together.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The First Embodiment
[0022] Because the commonly used connecting member has four support
arms, this embodiment includes a connecting member having four
support arms and a cross shape. Referring to FIG. 1, this view
illustrates a rotor-disc connecting member for a glass curtain wall
or roofing, that lies in the frame plane (or the tangent plane of
the curved surface). Included are four support arms 3 hinge with
four lug plates 23 on an interconnecting part 2, respectively. The
upper surfaces 31 of the support arms 3 include bolt holes for
fixing the support bars of the glass frames (not shown). The
interconnecting part 2 of this embodiment consists of a base plate
22 and a cover plate 21 connected together by a fastener. The ball
head 1 lies in a ball socket between the base plate 22 and the
cover plate 21.
[0023] Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the support abutment 1 is a
rod structure. The ball head 11 is disposed at the upper end of the
support abutment 1, and a screw thread 12 is provided at the lower
end to engage the truss frame. The interconnecting part 2 consists
of a circular cover plate 21 and a circular base plate 22. The
joint area of plates 21 and 22 form a ball socket for receiving the
ball head 11. The opposite ends (not the hinged ends) of the
support arms 3 are inserted into the support bars of the glass
frames. The shadow casts of the lower surfaces 33 of the support
arms 3 illustrated as arc lines, provide a height equal to the
height of the support bars of the glass frames, consequently
improving the strength of the rotor-disc connecting member for
supporting the support bars of the glass frames.
[0024] Referring to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the center of the base plate
22 includes a hemispherical socket 24 constituting the lower half
of the ball socket. Regarding the four lug plates 23 of the base
plate 22, two lug plates lie in a straight line, the other two lug
plates lie in another straight line. Depending on construction
requirements, the included angle of these two straight lines may be
any angle in the range of 15.degree. to 180.degree., including both
end values. In the present embodiment, one included angle a of the
base plate is 85.degree.. As a practical matter, the base plates 22
can be prepared in batches at 5.degree. intervals within the above
range.
[0025] Referring to FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, the lower part of the cover
plate 21 includes a hemispherical socket 25 constituting the upper
half of the ball socket.
[0026] Referring to FIG. 8, FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, double lug heads 34
are hinged with the interconnecting part and disposed at one end of
the support arm 3. The other end of the support arm 3 is inserted
into the support bar as described above. The support arm 3 has a
flat upper surface 31, an arc-shaped lower surface 33 and two bolt
holes 35.
[0027] FIG. 11 and FIG. 13 show the hinging relationship among the
support abutment 1, the cover plate 21 and the base plate 22; the
hinging relationship between the interconnecting part and the
support arm 3; and the assembly relation between the support
abutment 1 and the component 5. The lower end of component 5 is
welded on the truss frame. After the inserting end of the support
arm 3 is inserted into the support bar 4, it is fixed by using a
fastener. The lower part of the support arm 3 is an arc line that
transits to provide a height equal to that of the support bars of
the glass frames; consequently, improving the strength of the
rotor-disc connecting member for supporting the support bars of the
glass frames.
The Second Embodiment
[0028] Referring to FIG. 12 and FIG. 13, the features described
above, regarding the first embodiment, will not be repeated. The
base plate of the interconnecting part consists of an upper base
plate 22A and a lower base plate 22B. A pair of collinear lug
plates is provided on the upper base plate 22A and the lower base
plate 22B. A ball socket is provided at the center of the upper
base plate 22A and the cover plate 21. Elliptical holes 27 are
uniformly distributed along a circle on the upper base plate 22A
and the bolt holes 25 corresponding to the elliptical holes are
provided in the lower base plate 22B. This provides rotation of the
upper and lower base plates relative to each other for adjustment
of the included angle a between the two pairs of collinear lug
plates. After this adjustment, the upper and lower base plates are
fixed by using the bolts.
[0029] The above embodiments are not intended to limit the claims
of the present invention. For example, the second embodiment may
include a lug plate provided on both the upper base plate and the
lower base plate, respectively. The included angle of these two lug
plates may be adjusted within a range of 15.degree. to 180.degree.
by means of the cooperation of the upper base plate and lower base
plate. Fine adjustment of the included angle is provided by the
elliptical holes. For an arrangement of multiple lug plates, some
lug plates having a relative angle a may be fixedly disposed on the
upper base plate and lower base plate in advance, the angle a being
within a range of 15.degree. to 180.degree..
[0030] Obviously, modifications and alterations will occur to
others reading and understanding the preceding detailed
description. It is intended that the embodiments described be
construed as including all such modifications and alterations
insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or
equivalents thereof.
* * * * *